1. Field
This disclosure is generally related to artificial intelligence. More specifically, this disclosure is related to a conversation agent that adjusts a conversation style used to communicate with a user based on the user's behavioral characteristics.
2. Related Art
Different people prefer different communication styles. A person's personality and behavior characteristics influence how he communicates, and influences how he responds to other people's communication style. Some people, for example, may prefer a customer support agent that responds to their questions using brief and intelligent statements, which quickly give them the information they need. Other people, on the other hand, may prefer that the customer support agent feel more personable to them. They may prefer a customer support agent that uses a certain degree of humor, and perhaps shows more sympathy to their problem. An experienced customer support agent is oftentimes skilled at understanding people, and can adjust his communication style based on the needs of the customer he is assisting, much to the customer's satisfaction.
However, with the advent of the Internet age, it is becoming common for businesses in the service industry to reduce operating expenses by providing an Internet-based interface where customers can complete their business transactions without requiring the assistance of a human. These Internet-based services span various industries, such as banking, investments, merchandize, and insurance. If a user has a question or has trouble accessing a feature on the web interface, a self-sufficient user can oftentimes find a suitable answer by searching through a “support” forum accessible through the web interface. Not all users are self-sufficient, though, as some users may require a guided explanation to accessing a desired feature or solving a given problem.
Many of these businesses may also provide a chat interface through their web interface, where the customer can obtain answers to his questions without having to call the customer service agent. However, these chat interfaces oftentimes require a human to answer customers' questions, regardless of how simple these questions may be. While this does not require the human to answer telephone calls, it does not free the human to perform more complicated business tasks.
Some businesses may utilize an automated conversation agent, implemented by a computer program, to answer questions from customers. While this can help answer certain questions, these conversation agents do not always provide the best experience to the customer. Customers oftentimes perceive these conversation agents to sound robotic, and not very intelligent. Some conversation agents are designed to imitate a communication style for a certain user demographic, in an attempt to make them sound more human. Unfortunately, this can oftentimes make the conversation agent sound fake, as the conversation agent follows a script that doesn't adjust to each user's unique communication style.